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Tag Archives: Graham Potter

In a recent interview, Harlee Dean said that a club needs a philosophy, a way of playing and that’s what Garry Monk brought to Birmingham City. Monk has also talked about this; the Birmingham Mail published a quote in which he said:

“we felt the group needed to know what it meant playing for this club, wearing that shirt and what it means not just for them but for the fans and the community.”

Monk has concentrated on doing what he can with what he’s
got. He’s focussed on getting the team to play good football and strengthening
the bond between players and fans.

Many fans have said that Monk gets Blues, that he
understands us. I think his understanding
is wider than that; he understands that football is not just a business and
that fans are not just customers but an essential part of the game. He also has emotional intelligence and does
well at handling relationships with players and fans.

Before Monk was appointed as our manager, the manager I would have chosen was Graham Potter, who also has emotional intelligence and understands the importance of fans. Potter is now at Swansea and that club is going through a hard time. The owners have sold senior players without replacing them and an article in the Guardian reports:

“Potter has relied on youngsters to such an extent that Swansea, who spent seven seasons in the top flight and were relegated from the Premier League nine months ago, are fielding a team in the Championship that, in terms of the age of their players, resembles that of a club operating on a shoestring in League Two. . . Potter continues to diligently go about his work, refusing to sound downbeat and remaining totally committed to the job that he took on last summer. He is the glue holding a broken club together. ”

I would imagine that Swansea fans want to hold onto their
manager as much as Birmingham City fans want to keep Garry Monk.

Big Dave Thomas produced the first copy of Made in Brum for the first leg of Birmingham City’s playoff semi-final against Barnsley in 2000. Amazingly, that game didn’t stop his production of the fanzine. (You may recall that game wasn’t Blues’ finest hour and the headlines said things like “Brilliant Barnsley crush Blues.”) Continue reading →